Instalife....December

Rounding out 2014 (At least as far as Instagram is concerned!)

We started day 1 of December getting up early and heading down to OHSU surgi-center for Ainsley to have her adenoid removed. In October I really started noticing that she sounded like she was snoring, even when she was awake. She woke up multiple times a night, she was tired all day. After seeing her pediatrician, she was referred to ENT for evaluation. A quick scope was done in the office and after looking in just one nostril, the doc said "See this mom, this is her airway. The adenoid is blocking the entire thing!" 2 weeks later we were scheduled for surgery. I cannot say enough good things about doing a surgery with a team that works only with children! They talked to her, even though she is only 2, and explained that she was going to use her special mask to blow up a big green balloon with the special doctor. The mask was sprayed with a flavor (watermelon and grape were the options today) so it was fun to put over her face, and then she was allowed to play with the mask for a good 45 minutes before surgery. She kept asking if she could take all of the equipment home....blood pressure cuff, pulse ox, mask, special jammies. We decided to not premedicate her as they said kids tend to wake up crankier if they had the Versed pre-procedure and it takes longer for them to wake up. She had no anxiety issues at all going back. The crib looked like a "coach" and the nurses played right along with taking her for a ride in her coach.

Sweet girl did amazing. She woke up before they left the OR and she was quite cranky, they gave her a little more medicine and then once in recovery she just wanted mommy. I held her for 30-45 minutes and we walked back to her room. She slept the entire time and the nurse told me "I'm going to go get some juice and a popsicle for you to have in here once she wakes up." And just like that, she popped her head up and asked "Do you have chocolate?" After the nurse gave us the popsicle (it was the twin pop kind) Ainsley looked at me and said "You can have the other one, I don't need 2." She was awake, she was back to herself and at 11 o'clock (surgery time was 9AM), we walked downstairs to go home. They told us in our discharge instructions to not worry if she doesn't eat much today, just make sure she drinks. She proved them wrong, ate an entire coffee shop muffin before we got home! Then had some of Aubrey's sandwich and cheese at home. If you asked if she had an ouches she would say no, its all gone (the IV was the only thing she ever said hurt her.) She had the pain medicine all of maybe 4 times total and once she woke up in the middle of the night asking specifically "I want the cough medicine from the doctor." I was definitely surprised that such a young child would notice the difference in the narcotic pain medicine.

You know you are a nurse's child when....you take home the medical equipment from the hospital and then play with it in its intended form!!! Ainsley wasn't detoured by the fact she didn't have a monitor to hook her blood pressure cuff into, she just used her mouth to pretend to inflate the cuff. Ella. Now I have to say how impressed I was watching her. During swim lessons, the very last day of each session is safety day. She has moved through the levels of swim lessons to a rather advanced level and that level includes rescue breathing with their safety day. Sorry, little bit of back story! Ella took swim lessons in July and this is the beginning of December. I look over and not only is Ella using the mask correctly, but she is counting out the correct rescue breathing!!! Makes this momma nurse so very proud!

Oh thank you internet for such simple, yet sanity saving ideas!! I had read multiple people comment about setting up 2 Christmas trees- one was mom's pretty tree with the ornaments placed JUST.SO; the other is a blank canvas for the kids. The girls strung their own lights, placed their own star, clustered ornaments here and there. In the end, we had 2 beautiful trees which wonderfully represented our family.

Quick weekend trip to Sunriver. Love spending some quality time with these girlies. We didn't get much snow to play in but it was still a fun weekend away with Grandma Marian.

"Looks like everyone made the nice list this year... I'm shocked I made the cut! Santa HQ is definitely not what a visit to Santa used to be. 🎅" Who knew that a visit to Santa could be so much fun!!

Zoolights with our neighbor friends! Ainsley, Aubrey, Keira, Erin, Ella and Ali!

5 matching dresses and a coordinating suit all made by Great Grandma Marian. Those are some seriously cute kids!! Ainsley, Aubrey holding Bailey, Kolby, Ella holding Aspen

Christmas caroling in our neighborhood then ending the evening with cookies and hot chocolate. I love this time of year!! And this was our first time caroling, but definitely not the last =)

As if the Christmas season wasn't busy enough, add in yet another tradition... Elf on the shelf. Basic concept is this, Santa sends the Elf to check on the kids before Christmas. Elf tends to create a little bit of mischief (makes snow angels in the flour, wraps Christmas tree in toilet paper, etc). Here Twixie (our elf) decided to have a little tea party with the Brownie elf.

Here's hoping that I post the rest of our Christmas fun before summer vacation!!!

Instalife---->> November

Its not only the blog that has been a little quiet over the last few months, even my Instagram has had just a few chosen moments on it.

How is it possible that my 'baby' is now in a big girl bed?? She was climbing in and out of her crib which I was ok with, but the day I walked into her room to see her spanning the end of the crib as she climbed up onto the top of her dresser (EEK!) it was official...Time to get rid of the crib. We got a surprise "snow day" the beginning of November that ended up being nothing more than an icy morning, but nonetheless it gave me the time to disassemble the crib and assemble the big bed.

2nd Grade and Kindergarten.....Wow! Time is flying with these 2. They look so similar but have such different perspectives on life. It is so much fun (and so C H A L L E N G I N G at times) to be their parents.

Gingerbread house making with Grandma Marian. The first of many holiday traditions!

Sunset in Riddle. I was looking back over my pictures while listening to a podcast from our church one day at work. I was challenged by a statement that was made....When your words change, your faith changes. Wow. Made me wonder, would I see the same beauty in this sunset if it marked the beginning of a storm as I do marking the end of a sunny day?

Again, these are just partial glimpses. How can one equally spend as much time capturing life as spent living life?

Remembering June...sorta

Oh my dear long neglected but not-completely-forgotten blog. I honestly cannot for the life of me remember where my blogging time has gone. I love this outlet, I love remembering, I love capturing those funny/don't-want-to-forget-this moments. But somehow, life has evolved with our family of 5 and my time is, well...less free. I refuse to give up, I refuse to just start from today (oh how easy that would be...new year, new start) but then we would be missing 7+ months of life. The thought is overwhelming but I think I'm going to do a 'Top 10(ish)' for each month. Make it more manageable while still capturing us.

1. Schools out for summer!!

Everyone was excited for Ella's last day of 1st grade.

2. Great Wolf Lodge with Girl Scouts

As soon as school was out, we loaded in the car to head for a day of friends, water and fun!

3. Pool time!

When our crew descends on the pool, you better watch out! Lots of splashing and laughing will soon be coming. Ainsley got a "puddle jumper" life jacket and Oh.My.Goodness! How have I had 3 children and only just know found this product? Its coast guard approved as a life jacket but it doesn't flip the kid on their back, instead she stays upright, able to swim, kick and move freely in the pool safely BY HERSELF!!

4. Bowling

6 kids bowling. Some might call us crazy! We did finish a game...and didn't lose any children....and there were no major injuries. Sounds like a success to me.

5. Farmers Market

Favorite part of the farmers market by all children...honey sticks. Little $0.25 straw filled with honey...Selah glared if you mentioned taking hers, Jude and Jenna were all smiles, Ella and Aubrey's lasted maybe 30 seconds, Ainsely chewed her straw so much she couldn't get the rest out but out of fear it would be taken away, would not let us help her! The day ended up being much warmer and nicer than we hoped. Running through the fountains with clothes on and snow cones were a perfect way to spend the day.

6. Hanging out

Some days the most fun is had by just hanging out at home, passing the day with your cousins.

7. Visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Kerner...plus Miriam was born!!

9 Great grandkids with 2 great grandparents in 1 picture. It only took about 30 pictures to get one were most kids look like they are not being tortured!!! And everyone loves to hold the baby =)

June in a nutshell. Lots of fun, lots of family!

Instalife----October

Right now I have to say I am so thankful for Instagram...its the only thing allowing me to feel like I haven't completely lost the ability to blog. And oh how I love recording our life on this blog. It may look like a slow death, but stick with me...I promise to keep it alive!!

I'm so lucky to be this little girl's momma. Her smile warms my heart and her stories keep me laughing. Today she told me, "I just take what you say, put it in my head, spin it around and out pops a recipe!" Her view on life is ordinary (for some reason she always uses the word ordinary when actually it should be unique).

Big -8- Hard to believe how fast the time has gone. She is our information sponge, our follow the direction to a T then find a loophole in the instruction to do something else, our tender-hearted, imaginative, and friendly girl. She was able to have some extra birthday flare on her cake thanks to candles sent from Auntie Sarah.

Every family has to have the 1st child who needs pieced back together. Fortunately it was small and no stitches required, just a little glue! It was the perfect combination of wearing rainboots on the carpet, legos covering the floor and tripping to land precisely on the corner of the padded ottoman with her eye.

This year we were blessed to get free tickets to Bauman Farms. They don't call this the Disneyland of pumpkin patches for nothin'! We spent 3 hours here and didn't do EVERYTHING! And in Oregon, how often do you have a sunny day so warm you can eat an ice cream cone at the pumpkin patch?!?!

Thank goodness 8 year olds don't notice the little details. I won't be winning cake wars anytime soon and if nursing doesn't work out at least I can confidently say I shouldn't head to the bakery for my next job ;-) What really matters though is that Ella said this was "Exactly what I hoped it would be!"

Oh how we love rain boots!!

Evenings with Doug and Myrna are always fun. Special pumpkin decorating and Halloween crafts make it even better!

Every once in a while, just because, I really should get better about going through old pictures...Especially wedding pictures!!

I've never been one who frets about turning another year older. But I would also be lying if I didn't mention that it made me smile when the barista asked if I was 24 ;-)

Some days you are so hungry that you can't help eating a cold tamale in the church parking lot!

#selfie--- I've never been one who went all out getting dressed up for Halloween. This year one our October alphabet dinner fell right before Halloween so costumes were required. Enter my best attempt at a couple's costume!

A ponytail with 2 ponytails with 2 ponytails on each of those...Yep, that qualifies as a crazy hairdo!

Instalife----September

Thank goodness for Instagram! I promise I really do take photos on my real camera, but man...these days have been full! Fun, full, and I'm not going to lie a little exhausting at times. There are days I look around and wish I could squeeze a few more tasks into each day, but oh well...such are the days as a household of 5!

School time is here again.

Ainsley and Aubrey shared in Aubrey's excitement to be going to kindergarten!!

Face-painting fun after the Cause & Event race. Ainsley "ran" with me in the stroller and wore an official race number too. About halfway through the race she started telling people "I hurt my knee during my race." Must be hard to be pushed for 3.1 miles!!

Its a family event! Ella ran her very 1st race- 1 mile. She did great and we were so proud of her for completing it. Neal took 3rd in his division for the 5K. I walked with Gina as she was trying to nurse her stress-fractured leg, she didn't have to ask me twice to walk not run.

This year we got Halloween costumes a little early. The church had a superhero weekend and the girls wanted outfits to wear for that event. I, on the other hand, was not willing to buy 2 costumes for each girl. The compromise was that we are Batgril and Wonder Woman for Halloween this year and could wear costumes in September.

Remembering to take time on our walks home from school in the morning to enjoy the "Ainsley sized" things of the world. Each morning we stop at this same retaining wall and sit because "its an Ainsley sized bench!"

Race time once again! 3.1 miles, more running than obstacles (and either I'm stronger or the obstacles were much easier than the past races!) and for a non-beer-lover, the BEST spiced banana beer!

Some days just don't go as planned. This was one such day. From the moment I woke up, things just didn't my way. Our morning progressed in this manner and moments into church, I got paged back to the kids wing. Ainsley had pottied in her undies, dress was wet and shoes were wet. Icing on the cake, no dry clothes in the van. We only live 5 minutes from church but of course Ainsley fell asleep on the way!!

Never trust when a 2 year old is quiet. Fortunately it was only bandaids this time, at least they are easy to clean-up!

Family pictures 2014 by CRoeMedia.com

Its a little muddy but SO MUCH FUN!! Warrior Dash 2014

There ya have it. Maybe/hopefully soon I'll fill in the pieces in between. If not, at least you know what we've been up to and the adventures we are constantly having.

Instalife---August

I had grand grand plans to go back and make detailed entries to get the ol' blog back on track. Here we are getting the reality....Its October and if I don't play catch up then I'll become overwhelmed and just quit. So, we will enjoy Instagram and the high points while saying "so long" to summer!

We spent the last week of July in the Bend-Sunriver area. 11 kids, 6 adults, 6 mile bike ride with 3 waterfalls jumped into/slid down, 5 mile bike ride around Sunriver, 10 thundereggs dug, more s'mores eaten than we probably want to admit. SO M U C H FUN!!!!

This picture on our way home so beautifully captured our week--a few rain clouds couldn't damper our week, the fun always shined through!

Sneak peak of Kerner family pictures! 9 kids, 8 adults.

Another sneak peak of the family pictures. We were so blessed to be able to use the farm of a very loving family from our church.

Cousins and dress-up, always making memories!

9 years of doing life together. 9 years of high highs and learning times. 9 years that I could never imagine doing without you!

Family fun night at Oaks Park with daddy's work.

Ending the night on the Ferris Wheel. Perfect ending to a great evening!

Parenting tip #1- baby powder applied to sandy kids makes for effortless/painless sand removal. Parenting tip #2- keep said baby powder away from said sandy kid or have fun cleaning!

Beautiful sunset, beautiful family, beautiful memories.

Saying goodbye to summer on a gloomy day with donuts!!